1973 31' Land Yacht. Tell me I haven't gone nuts.

[Gman73]

Well I purchased this beast and have just flat out dug in. Then made the mistake of scaring the hell out of my self when I got the bathroom out and found the floor rot extent. I am praying it is just isolated to the rear due to the PO removing the belly pan for the last 4 feet to remove the leaking blackwater tank. I will know more once i get all the sub floor rot out. However the separation on the L/R corner has me a little worried. Any Thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

[aquinob]

Fixing the rear floor rot was the first major job I did on my trailer, a '73 overlander. Its a lot of work, but it can be done, just dont box yourself in time wise, things always take a lot longer than you initially anticipate. Check my blog for some pix of what I went through.

BTW, are you sure that's a '73? The reason I ask is that the interior is all wood, which would make me think its a few years older. My '73 has the dark wood print on fiber board and the tambour roll up doors on cabinets and yours does not. Personally I would have rather had the nice plywood interior that yours has over the newer version.

[J. Morgan]

I like it..

Fear not, once you have that much stuff out of the trailer replacing the last sheet of plywood is a breeze!!!

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...ps113e1088.jpg


1/2 Ton 4WD Truck, 72 Sovereign Hensley Arrow

[Gman73]

No sir, mine has the tambour roll ups along with what I believe to be the faux wood cabinets. Correct me if in wrong but it is a plywood type material with a vinyl like veneer?

[Gman73]

I also found another small spot of rot below the front right window and door area so I am planning on the front and rear floors. Roughly a few feet on each end. Then fully re insulate as I plan on full timing.

[J. Morgan]

I replaced the rear sheet of plywood and patched under the front windows.

The rest of the floor was good so I didn't do a shell off.

The plywood on my trailer had no vinyl coating.

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...ps1a2f2fc2.jpg



1/2 Ton 4WD Truck, 72 Sovereign Hensley Arrow

[Gman73]

With fixing he frame sag, do you physical need to bend the frame back or can I pull the frame back to the shell by using Carriage bolts around the perimeter? I plan on reinforcing the frame in the rear with some angle iron, maybe add some extra cross sections. I would like to use carriage bolts on the perimeter and elevator bolts on the sub floor interior.

[J. Morgan]

If the frame isn't bent, you can just fix the floor and bolt everything back up.

My frame wasn't bent when I fixed the floor, but got bent later when I was using the trailer with hard worn out axles.

I used a large jack (aggressively) at the back of each frame rail to bend the frame back up and then welding a 3" angle to the bottom of the frame which held the frame in its "fixed" position and raised my trailer 3".


1/2 Ton 4WD Truck, 72 Sovereign Hensley Arrow

[Gman73]

Excuse the errors in my last post, my phone loves to auto correct! So I can have rear separation without the frame being bent? Also J. Morgan I love what you did with the shower, is it a pan with shower walls? How much of a bear was that?
Thanks again for all of this!

[J. Morgan]

I bought the shower pan and enclosure off the floor at Lowe's.

It was fairly easy to make work by setting the back wall about 8" off the wall of the trailer (at the floor).

The shower was pretty easy to put in, but I had to think about its placement because its placement determined where almost everything in the back half of the trailer is.


1/2 Ton 4WD Truck, 72 Sovereign Hensley Arrow

[Texastex]

Airstream floor repair
I have a 34 foot 1984 Excella
The wood flooring in the bath was dark in color and a little weak. After taking the carpet out, I left vents and Windows slightly open and air dried being in Texas that helped.
In the meantime, I started looking for solutions to wood, dry rot and fungus wood rot.
I noticed that the wood is sandwiched between the upper at her outer shell and the frame so I was worried about the rot getting under the aluminum.
After searching, I found a solution from one of the US government site and wood foundation restorers in London, England, that work on 400-year-old structures. Not to bore you with more details but here is the operation and formula used.
In these portion I use 1 gallon hundred percent antifreeze as 50% of the solution and the other 50% was a one-to-one solution of Borax powder and Boric acid the ant and bug killer, mixed in a sauce pan with a little water and boiled till the solution became liquid. I poured all the solutions in a 2-gallon garden sprayer and then sprayed it around all the edges inside especially close to the walls and the entire bathroom floor including all compartments and behind cabinets, everyplace I could get it in. Let dry depending on humidity a couple of days.
In my case, it stiffened some of the spongy spots and I must have had some fungus because that expose wood lighten up some. I also get very few bugs and ants,lol.
So far, I have not had any trouble and it is an inexpensive remedy.
Now going to the actual rotted places most of mine were fairly small no larger than about six or 8 inches so I used penetrating epoxy and in one place I use some wood shims that I drove under the aluminum walls happen to be under the couch. I believe you could try it in larger sections as long as the as they were supported. In the rear door where the plumbing, gray, and black water controls are located that I put a scab on either side of the plywood because I could reach it and treated it along with the penetrating epoxy.

These are not my original ideas I collated and used other people suggestion. Good luck and good streaming.

[J. Morgan]

I like the unconventional creativity applied Texastex!


1/2 Ton 4WD Truck, 72 Sovereign Hensley Arrow

[geezernbabe]

I must say that trailer is the very same as our 1970 down the the oven and all the woodwork. The pics look just the same as ours but the rear floor was better in yours. Our frame was bent and I cut out the cross members and had a shop bend 10 gauge to fit inside the frame to box it in. Then added a strip of 3/16 X 8 for about 6' from the axle back. Then welded the cross members back. And added a few because I turned it into a rear bed and center bath with a new grey and black tank. It was easy to straighten the frame with it all cut lose. Have fun Dave

[mrrealtor]

How hard was it to flip the bed and bath? I also want to add a grey tank and need to figure out how I can make it happen.


1972 Airstream International Land Yacht Sovereign

[geezernbabe]

I had the whole floor out to a bare frame so it was just a lot of layout for the shower and toilet. It was a lot of work but it is much better than the other way. We just moved but when we get everything hooked back up in a few weeks I will try and post some pics for you here. Dave